The question is, who are you, to friends that you care about? Its clear enough that you can't love others if you don't love yourself. And it makes me curious in situations with friends. Can you be a friend to someone that you don't even consider a friend? A lot of people out there needs the little love and care that you have to offer, some people are grieving, some are depressed, discouraged, anguished and in so much emotional pain. You might not even know that a friend is going through so much. What do you do as a friend? How do you help a friend grief? How do you encourage someone that's already depressed emotionally?

I personally love to be a helping hand to those in needs in the very little way I can. But its so hard to be one,if you don't know who exactly needs it. Its even more harder to get one to be open minded with you, not because they don't consider you a friend, most of them are hopeless. Some of them don't even believe in hope,how much more give you a chance to let them know, that they can live above their challenges.

“ a real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out".

I remember clearly when I was going through some challenges. I had friends tell me that everything was going to be fine, I had friends constantly reminding me that I could do it only in a matter of time, I even had people give up on me. Regardless of how well they gave me hope,I didn't know where I stood. I couldn't define what exactly was right - Giving hope a chance or giving up altogether. I remember telling myself countless of times that people opinions didn't matter, when a different part of me was so sure that those saying I should give up were right.

Now the thing is, FEAR was behind the very reason I thought they were right. Not exactly because they had logical reasons to explain why things wouldn't work out. I was also scared of the outcomes of that challenge. Well, that made me realize that all you can do for a friend is give candid encouragement. They might not even believe you probably because they are scared. But you saying something or being there is enough to let them know that you're someone they could rely on anytime. After those discouraging times, I could tell who exactly to call a friend, I could tell who exactly I needed to trust and also who to rely on. Your friend may seem like someone who doesn't need those pep talks, they might look like they are doing fine on their own but still it takes nothing to make them know on countless times ,that you would always be there whenever they need you. Remember, you have to be 100 by 100% sure that you would be there, exactly when they need you. Well that's exactly a whole lot of commitment, but isn't that the reason they are your friends and not mere coursemates?

A friend once told me “hey, you always do something well, especially when you put your mind to it". I'm very sure he might not even he said those nice words to me because it was just something he said randomly, but the truth is whenever I doubt myself about a problem. I reflect on those words and I'm good to go.

Give an encouraging hand to that person you call your friend anytime and together we can help one another in our troubling times! Remember the whole concept of friendship falls back to commitments.